The Bush Disconnect? You'd better believe it!
What's the latest from that radical left-wing media? This week they're trumpeting the latest Bush White House talking point, which is, "There's a Bush disconnect because despite the wonderful economy we're enjoying, Bush isn't getting credit for it in the polls". Wow, they're really getting tough with this President, huh?
No, while there is a definite Bush disconnect, it definitely ain't that. The Bush disconnect is, in fact, a clear and visible disconnect from the truth. George W. Bush has suffered from this problem all of his life. At long last most Americans are catching on. I knew this ten years ago. As Bush began to position himself for the 2000 Republican Presidential nomination, I watched in disbelief. Anyone who knew a little bit about the Bush family, knew that George W. was the least of the "shrubs" (as Texas columnist Molly Ivins refers to the Bush children).
This was a man who spent the first forty years of his life tearing down every advantage into which he was born. Drinking, fighting, drug abuse and selfish arrogance were all he could make out of his priviliged life. Though he cleaned up his personal life to an extent, his professional life was simply atrocious. Born into tremendous money, he squandered millions on phony speculation and sank more into bad ideas. His only business "success", if you can call it that, was to buy a tiny percentage of the Texas Rangers (as the public face of a large consortium), build up the team's worth by blackmailing the city of Arlington, Texas into building a new, luxury stadium, selling out his shares to the tune of a 3200% profit, all with an eye toward public relations and running for political office.
As Governor of Texas, Bush did less than nothing. He did harm, just as he has done to America. In 2000, Bush ran for President by touting intitiatives which he not only didn't create but he had actually vetoed when they came from the state legislature. After the legislature overturned his vetoes, I guess he figured he may as well take all the credit. Worse yet, Bush "wrote" (if the man doesn't read books then he surely doesn't write books) an autobiography during the campaign entitled "A Charge to Keep". Any knowledgeable person who has read that book knows that it is a bigger work of fiction than any Anne Rice novel or the latest Harry Potter story. The only reliable information in that book may well be that:
A. His name is George
B. He has a wife named Laura
C. They have twins
After those factual tidbits, you'd better be on your guard, you're being propagandized. Bush took office in 2001 telling Americans things like, "I'm a uniter not a divider" and "by far the majority of my tax cuts go to those at the bottom". His early political agenda, his cabinet appointments and the fiscal reality of those tax cuts, proved him to be a liar but the "liberal" media said nothing. Remember, though, that most of the national media heavyweights live in Bush's economy, not in the real one. In Bush's economy, you could call it The Beltway Economy, "those at the bottom" means anyone making between $100,000 and $250,000 per year. They have more limited stock portfolios than Bush's buddies and they may not have a Summer home anywhere fashionable yet.
In the real America, the one that more than 90% of us live in, people are working harder and for more hours, at worse paying jobs, with less benefits, spending less time with their children and facing a less secure future. We don't have a stock portfolio at all. Some of us may have dabbled a little bit in the market but we can't afford anything more. We don't own a home and we're not too sure how we're going to make it through this life. When Bill Clinton was President, life was getting a little bit better for us. Since Bush, we're right back where we were before, only worse now.
Bush lied us into war. Pure and simple. All the evidence is there for anyone who is able and willing to face the truth. Look back to the Project for a New American Century and the agenda with which Bush's entire foreign policy team took office. Look at the Downing Street minutes, they tell the full story more than a year before war in Iraq began. Look with your own eyes as the justification for attacking Iraq changes every six months depending on the effectiveness of the current sales pitch. The entire argument does not need to be repeated here. It's already been well documented. Gradually the American people have grasped this reality as their President continues to waffle and waver on reasons why we attacked a largely unarmed country and questions about the administration's poor strategy repeatedly go unanswered.
If just once in the last two years Bush had stood humbly before the nation and told us that, in fact, he had been mistaken about Iraq but that he had been convinced from the beginning that it was necessary (true or not), that he was heartily sorry for the loss of life and that we now owe it to the Iraqi people to stay until they can properly keep their nation together, he might have recaptured a skeptical public. Now it is too late. America has written off Bush. For too long he has spoken to them in slogans and with a defensive arrogance that infuriates them. They have now seen too clearly that the evidence in front of their own eyes is completely opposite what their President and his administration are telling them daily.
When Bill Clinton was caught lying to the American people about his private life, he went before the nation on prime time television and admitted his faults and told them that he was sorry. Clinton is still more popular than Bush has ever been. This lesson has been lost on Bush. He just does not have the personal confidence necessary to make such a humbling statement. He protects himself instead with a false arrogance which only masks a complete lack of character. His inability to acknowledge reality and deal with it has been his biggest undoing. All his life it has been his worst character flaw. He has never in his life had to take responsibility for his mistakes, he always had a free pass because of his last name. From drunk driving to business failure to a failing foreign policy, it's all the same to Bush. No responsibility, unless something ever goes right. Then it's all trumpets and mountaintops.
So yes, there is a very real Bush disconnect. Whether it is the mythology of an ineffective and foolishly prosecuted war against terrorism, the fairytale of a strong and vibrant economy or the ridiculousness of the "plain, average joe, guy you'd like to have a beer with" President. Bush's wife recently and unwittingly exposed the lie to that last part. While publicly kidding her husband at a function, Laura Bush referred to her husband's "ranching experience" by reminding the audience that Andover Prep and Yale don't exactly offer the finest "brush clearing" programs.
Finally, the Bush disconnect will be lasting and complete. Americans, thankfully, now understand that the President is lying nearly every time he opens his mouth. I'm so thrilled that all of you have caught up with me at last. Before 2000, I told many, many people that if Bush became President he would prove to be the worst President in the history of our country. Damned if I wasn't right. Sorry but I told ya' so.
No, while there is a definite Bush disconnect, it definitely ain't that. The Bush disconnect is, in fact, a clear and visible disconnect from the truth. George W. Bush has suffered from this problem all of his life. At long last most Americans are catching on. I knew this ten years ago. As Bush began to position himself for the 2000 Republican Presidential nomination, I watched in disbelief. Anyone who knew a little bit about the Bush family, knew that George W. was the least of the "shrubs" (as Texas columnist Molly Ivins refers to the Bush children).
This was a man who spent the first forty years of his life tearing down every advantage into which he was born. Drinking, fighting, drug abuse and selfish arrogance were all he could make out of his priviliged life. Though he cleaned up his personal life to an extent, his professional life was simply atrocious. Born into tremendous money, he squandered millions on phony speculation and sank more into bad ideas. His only business "success", if you can call it that, was to buy a tiny percentage of the Texas Rangers (as the public face of a large consortium), build up the team's worth by blackmailing the city of Arlington, Texas into building a new, luxury stadium, selling out his shares to the tune of a 3200% profit, all with an eye toward public relations and running for political office.
As Governor of Texas, Bush did less than nothing. He did harm, just as he has done to America. In 2000, Bush ran for President by touting intitiatives which he not only didn't create but he had actually vetoed when they came from the state legislature. After the legislature overturned his vetoes, I guess he figured he may as well take all the credit. Worse yet, Bush "wrote" (if the man doesn't read books then he surely doesn't write books) an autobiography during the campaign entitled "A Charge to Keep". Any knowledgeable person who has read that book knows that it is a bigger work of fiction than any Anne Rice novel or the latest Harry Potter story. The only reliable information in that book may well be that:
A. His name is George
B. He has a wife named Laura
C. They have twins
After those factual tidbits, you'd better be on your guard, you're being propagandized. Bush took office in 2001 telling Americans things like, "I'm a uniter not a divider" and "by far the majority of my tax cuts go to those at the bottom". His early political agenda, his cabinet appointments and the fiscal reality of those tax cuts, proved him to be a liar but the "liberal" media said nothing. Remember, though, that most of the national media heavyweights live in Bush's economy, not in the real one. In Bush's economy, you could call it The Beltway Economy, "those at the bottom" means anyone making between $100,000 and $250,000 per year. They have more limited stock portfolios than Bush's buddies and they may not have a Summer home anywhere fashionable yet.
In the real America, the one that more than 90% of us live in, people are working harder and for more hours, at worse paying jobs, with less benefits, spending less time with their children and facing a less secure future. We don't have a stock portfolio at all. Some of us may have dabbled a little bit in the market but we can't afford anything more. We don't own a home and we're not too sure how we're going to make it through this life. When Bill Clinton was President, life was getting a little bit better for us. Since Bush, we're right back where we were before, only worse now.
Bush lied us into war. Pure and simple. All the evidence is there for anyone who is able and willing to face the truth. Look back to the Project for a New American Century and the agenda with which Bush's entire foreign policy team took office. Look at the Downing Street minutes, they tell the full story more than a year before war in Iraq began. Look with your own eyes as the justification for attacking Iraq changes every six months depending on the effectiveness of the current sales pitch. The entire argument does not need to be repeated here. It's already been well documented. Gradually the American people have grasped this reality as their President continues to waffle and waver on reasons why we attacked a largely unarmed country and questions about the administration's poor strategy repeatedly go unanswered.
If just once in the last two years Bush had stood humbly before the nation and told us that, in fact, he had been mistaken about Iraq but that he had been convinced from the beginning that it was necessary (true or not), that he was heartily sorry for the loss of life and that we now owe it to the Iraqi people to stay until they can properly keep their nation together, he might have recaptured a skeptical public. Now it is too late. America has written off Bush. For too long he has spoken to them in slogans and with a defensive arrogance that infuriates them. They have now seen too clearly that the evidence in front of their own eyes is completely opposite what their President and his administration are telling them daily.
When Bill Clinton was caught lying to the American people about his private life, he went before the nation on prime time television and admitted his faults and told them that he was sorry. Clinton is still more popular than Bush has ever been. This lesson has been lost on Bush. He just does not have the personal confidence necessary to make such a humbling statement. He protects himself instead with a false arrogance which only masks a complete lack of character. His inability to acknowledge reality and deal with it has been his biggest undoing. All his life it has been his worst character flaw. He has never in his life had to take responsibility for his mistakes, he always had a free pass because of his last name. From drunk driving to business failure to a failing foreign policy, it's all the same to Bush. No responsibility, unless something ever goes right. Then it's all trumpets and mountaintops.
So yes, there is a very real Bush disconnect. Whether it is the mythology of an ineffective and foolishly prosecuted war against terrorism, the fairytale of a strong and vibrant economy or the ridiculousness of the "plain, average joe, guy you'd like to have a beer with" President. Bush's wife recently and unwittingly exposed the lie to that last part. While publicly kidding her husband at a function, Laura Bush referred to her husband's "ranching experience" by reminding the audience that Andover Prep and Yale don't exactly offer the finest "brush clearing" programs.
Finally, the Bush disconnect will be lasting and complete. Americans, thankfully, now understand that the President is lying nearly every time he opens his mouth. I'm so thrilled that all of you have caught up with me at last. Before 2000, I told many, many people that if Bush became President he would prove to be the worst President in the history of our country. Damned if I wasn't right. Sorry but I told ya' so.
posted by Paul_NJ | 2:44 PM
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